bulldogboy

The lettering on the wagon says "St. Louis"; there is also a team stationed at the AB brewery in Merrimack, NH. Their wagon is lettered for Merrimack, NH; they also cover the Northeast U.S. The Clydesdale Village in

Merrimack is a nice place to take the kids. Also, free samples at the brewery for the adults.

bulldogboy

Wow, all of this information makes my head spin. Mack must have had a VP in charge of nothing else but thinking up letters and numbers to designate all its various models.

bulldogboy

Brian:

I'll try to give you a quick explanation as I understand it but I'm sure that the others on these forums who are much more knowledgeable about fire apparatus will jump in. Mack started with two models,

a "Junior" series and a "Senior" series. "Juniors" were medium duty trucks and "Seniors" were heavy duty. Later the "AB" replaced the "Junior" and the "AC" replaced the "Senior" series. I'm not sure why

Mack used the various letters to designate their models. Next came the early "B" series in the 1930s, then the medium duty "E" and heavy duty "L" models. Within each series there were many models, some

were available as conventional or traffic type chassis. Fire apparatus was usually designated according to the motors used and pump size. A "Type 45" fire engine was a smaller "E" series with a 500 GPM

pump, a "Type 75" had a 750 GPM pump and so on. Later "L-85", "B-85" and "C"-85" had 750 GPM pumps, "L-95", "B-95", and "C-95" had 1000 GPM pumps. The "C" model was Mack's first cab forward

design in the 1950s later replaced by the more modern "CF" series in the late 1960s. The Mack "Junior" line of the 1930s (not to be confused with the earlier "Junior" series) was not built by Mack, they were

built by REO under license from Mack. This model gave Mack a truck in the light duty category.

I know that this is probably too simple of an explanation but, like I said, others here will add a lot more information. If you can, pick up a copy of one, or both, of the Mack fire apparatus books written by Harvey

Eckart. Read those and all will be revealed.

bulldogboy

MADDOG93:

Is that photo on the right front of the engine taken when it was in Alexandria, NH? Looks like the photo that I have seen.

bulldogboy

KW and Peterbilt build four door chassis for emergency service use. Too bad Mack didn't offer a four door "Granite"; that would make an awesome fire engine platform.

bulldogboy

I always like a photo of a "B" model pumper parked on the apron. Brings back a lot of memories of my early career.

bulldogboy

Was at 9k last fall.....but he said cash talks.....although it's never said anything to me?

Mine says "bye".

bulldogboy

I remember in New Hampshire they would issue new plates every year in reverse colors. One year would be a white background with green letters and numbers, the following year the plates

would be a green background with white letters and numbers. I don't think that you had to turn the old plates in. The motto on the plates at the time was "Scenic" at the top with "New

Hampshire" on the bottom. One year the motto was changed to "Photoscenic" but people complained that it was promoting the photography business so it went back to "Scenic".

bulldogboy

MADDOG93:

I had heard about a guy that sold used Mack fire apparatus to small towns in New Hampshire back in the '70s and '80s but I can't remember his name. Supposedly, most of them came from Long Island. There were

lots of "L", "B", and "C" model engines and ladders parked in small NH volunteer stations. It was a great time to be a Mack fire apparatus buff. I know that Claremont, NH at one time ran an "L", "C", and "CF" engine.

I think that all of Claremont's engines were bought new. Interesting story about Alexandria's red and ,almost, white Macks.

bulldogboy

mike69mackman:

Glad that you made it to Lynn okay. Arriving at 5:30 A.M. helped to avoid the rush hour traffic. Lynn is just a hard place to get to no matter which way you go. I once worked for a company that is

headquartered in Lynn; I only went there several times but I would always get lost and drive around in circles until I found the street that I was looking for. The last time I drove a pickup with a GPS

and it still sent me down a dead end street. Hope that you made it back out okay.

bulldogboy

128 is always a fuster cluck, if you hit it before 6am and from 11am to 2pm it is not bad after 7pm is usually fine. That was at 5pm so I had a short 65mph run to rt2 then it stalled out all the way to the 93 interchange and still slow up to Peabody.

Very true, then throw in an accident, fender bender, just someone parked in the breakdown lane, snowstorm, construction (never ending) and then all bets are off!

bulldogboy

Take I-95 (SR 128 for us oldtimers) north from I-90 to Exit 44 towards Lynn. After the exit there is a famous (infamous?) Massachusetts rotary. Follow the signs to Rte 129 towards Lynn. Follow 129 straight into downtown

Lynn. This is a two lane city street with lots of traffic, traffic signals, etc. I don't know where Garelick's plant is; do you have an address? Good luck; Boston area traffic is wonderful any time of the day or night.

bulldogboy

Last Sunday, August 11, 2013, the fire station in Albany, VT burned with the loss of five trucks. An Albany volunteer firefighter has been arrested and charged with arson. Albany is a

small town in the Northeast Kingdom. One engine was destroyed, a 1970s IH, I think. Heavily damaged and probably totaled are a 1977 Hahn engine, a Peterbilt tanker, a step van,

and a brush truck. Albany had a Mack tanker, I thought that they still had it, but I guess it had been replaced by the Peterbilt. For now, the Corinth, VT Fire Department has lent them

a Ford "C" model pumper and Newport Center, VT has given them a GMC mini-pumper.

bulldogboy

That is why going to shows and joining antique truck groups is so helpful. You are right, all the answers aren't in the books. (Like knowing exactly what happened to Newton's open cab CF)

I always thought Newton had some of the cleanest, best looking Macks in the Boston area.

Up there with Lynnfield! Right, Paul? Any FD with an "N" model Mack has to be okay in my book.

On the other hand, the hard scrabble mill cities of Lowell and Lynn, MA ran their "C" and "CF" fire trucks hard. They ran from factory conflagrations to tenement fires back to factory conflagrations back to tenement ...,

well, you get the picture. Those Macks were working trucks, did a great job, and retired as battle weary veterans.

bulldogboy

That classic looks pretty solid, hope that someone buys and restores it. I know of two similar trucks in New England still owned by fire departments, one in North Adams, MA and one in Nashua, NH.

bulldogboy

RWE253:

That's a great picture and story of this truck. On page 24 of Harvey Eckart's book, "Mack Fire Apparatus, A Pictorial History" there is a photo of what I believe is this truck. The photo was

taken in 1974 in Cross Anchor, SC. Do you know how this truck came to be in SC after its service in Lakewood? Glad to see that this truck has been saved.

bulldogboy

I would think that if Ford wanted out of the medium duty truck market, the breakup of the "Blue Diamond" partnership would have been a good excuse to leave the business. That Ford is willing to invest in new

tooling at Avon Lake to produce F-650 and F-750 chassis says that they must want to stay in this segment. Of course, stranger things have happened over the years, e.g. the HN80.

A public works department near me is buying F-250, F-550, and F-650s with CNG conversions; they even have a Transit Connect running on CNG.

bulldogboy

Is Noonan going back to Mack? Most of the Noonan trucks that I've seen around the last few years have been KW. There is even a commercial on TV ( for a bank I think) that features a new

Noonan KW tractor.

bulldogboy

1974 Mack "CF" 1250/1000. Former Sterling, MA Engine 1, then Clinton, MA Engine 4. Clinton replaced it in 2013 with a 1992 E-One 1250/1000, former Windham, NH.

bulldogboy

fxfymn:

Air horns and a Roto-Ray on a Mack 45A, that's unusual. I also like the Weber grill on the front bumper; good for rehab at a long incident. That's a nice truck; I can't believe that AFD hasn't

restored it for parade duty.

As to 1960s firefighting, that's the way things were done in those days. My career started with riding the back step, semi-cab Macks, unlined rubber coats, etc. and finished with RIT teams,

enclosed cabs with seatbelts, the National Fire Academy, etc. Like everything else in life, firefighting changed a lot over the years but we still have to remember, honor, and learn from the past.

bulldogboy

The 45A, 405A, and 505A had 500 GPM pumps. The 75A had a 750 GPM pump. The difference among the 45A, 405A, and 505A was the use of different engines.

bulldogboy

Upper Saddle River NJ Pierce some years ago.

Rob

Looks like it has four wheel drive; one near me has four wheel drive and the cab looks the same.

bulldogboy

fxfymn:

The "new" Framingham station located on Rte. 9 in Framingham Center is actually located on the scene of the fire.

That's the station on Route 9 opposite Framingham State University? My son went to FSU and his dorm was across Rte. 9 from this station. That was quite a story about your father. Just goes

to show you how timing is everything; a few minutes one way or the other can change a lifetime. Thanks for the info.

bulldogboy

Back in the mid - '60s there was an explosion at an oil company in Framingham, MA resulting in three LODDs. I believe that two, if not all three, were from the Ashland Fire Department. The "Boston Globe"

ran a photo of the funeral, one of the three trucks carrying the caskets was an "L" model Mack. I'm guessing that this was the Ashland Mack. I kept that photo along with other Mack photos from the '60s

but, of course, I lost them years ago.

bulldogboy

Thanks for all the info, guys. Still, it's a strange looking truck.

bulldogboy